The tour of Walter Lindrum, the Australian player, which marks a new era in the history of the game, was concluded on Saturday when he was beaten in his last match at Dublin in which he played Newman. Since he arrived in England on his first visit to the country in the middle of October, Lindrum has taken part in match play without rest. He has been beaten in four of his games, by Smith twice, and once each by McConachy, the New Zealand champion, who accompanied him on tour, and Newman, but he won all of the other matches with so much ease that no doubt can be entertained as to his all-round superiority over all of his opponents. Lindrum's tour has been a personal triumph, and he has been able to show a method of almost perpetual scoring which has been remarkable. The fact that he has made more four-figure breaks in the six months he has been playing in the British Isles than any other player has made in the course of his whole career is indicative chiefly of his masterly control.
Few sportsmen have dominated their fellows to the extent that Walter Lindrum did. Later that season he beat his own record with a break of 4,137. At that time no other player had ever scored more than 2,800.
The great players of the past and present time have shown that it is comparatively easy to make a succession of hazards, or a series of cannons, but all of them without exception have exhibited weaknesses which certainly have not been so apparent in the case of Lindrum. It is a high tribute to Lindrum's ability that his contemporaries are agreed that he is the greatest player in the history of the game. They have realised themselves that as a scoring force he has never been equalled, and it is reasonable to assume that they will benefit by the matches they have played with him. Until Lindrum began his tour the impression was general that the game had been developed to a point which made it extremely difficult to visualise greater improvement, but it has been made evident that the maximum of scoring endeavour may not have been reached yet. While Lindrum has concentrated a good deal on the nursery cannon it would be unjust to say that he is in any way a specialist type of player. Lindrum has made a thousand break, by close cannon play chiefly, but he has done the same without making more than a hundred points by this means. He sets the high point of his ambition at a 5,000 break. The achievement of this must depend to a great extent on his ability to withstand the physical strain of such a test of endurance. The highest break he has made is one of 3,262, and there seems to be no reason why he should not improve on that. It is a pity perhaps, that Lindrum was not able to go through his tour without losing a match, but that he failed now and then is not surprising in view of the strenuous nature of his tour. At times he has made his opponents appear to be little more than second-rate players. The fact that he has been able to master the game to the extent he has done is due, in his opinion, to the fact that from the time he began to play seriously he has never allowed himself to relax from his self-imposed task of learning.